Latch



June 29, `194s. L. L ANDERSN 2,444,180

LATCH Filed May 28. 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 June 29,1948. L. L. ANDERsoN LATCH Filed May 28, 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 B5 u w for the latch bolt,

Passes .im zo, v194s A UNITED STATE LATCH Lloyd L. Anderson, to Winters Grand Rapids. Mich., Crampton Corporation.

ville, Mich., a corporation of Michigan assigner Grandsppumion my 2s, 1945, sensi No. 59ans 9 claims (ci. 292-332) No. 2,440,162, dated struction disclosed in said application provides for the eifective closing and tight sealing'of a refrigerator door better than heretofore accomplished. and with a closing of the door lby a light pressure and an accomplishment of more effectively overcoming the gasket resistance to door closing, which gasket is compressed and its resistance progressively increased as the door approaches and finally reaches its closed position. 4

Such latch structure which have been liled attaining the same end, is normally held in a cocked position @when the door is open, being tripped upon closing the door which is pivotally mounted,

and other modlncations to engage with the keeper on the refrigerator casing. However, tripped with the vertence an attempt made to close the' door, the latch bolt strikes against the outer side of the if the latch shouldefoecome keeper and does not close the door, the latch bolt .having to be moved by a handle operation'to the cocked position before the door can be closed.

The present invention has for its object and purpose a simple yet effective remedy for the condition described. In the present invention if the latch bolt is inadvertently or otherwise released from its cocked position when the door is open, on closing the door the ylatch Iboltwill be au-` tomatically retracted to pass by the keeper and engage'with it at the inner side, the door `thus being readily closed under' such conditions, and there is no lialbility of damage to the bolt or the latch of my application vabove identified. Further-more in the present latch construction all of the advantages accruing 'from the latch structure of such identified application are retained.` n

An understanding of the invention may be had from the following description taken in connecthrough a door andl associated door casing. with the latch and keeper mounted respectively thereon, illustrating the latch of this invention when it is in a closed position engaging with the keeper.

Fig. 2 is a transverse section through the latch substantially on the plane of line 2`2 of Fig. l in the direction indicated. t

Fig. 3 is `a. longitudinalsection through the latch showing -the position occupied by the parts when, from an uncocked position with the door open, the latchhas engaged the keeper and has been retracted to pass around the nose portion of the keeper to the inner side thereof.

' Fig. i is a longitudinal transverse section door open and through ined-- an attempted clolin the structure led on the door through the latch line l-I of Fig. l dicated.

Fig. 5 is and Fig. 6 is a fragmentary longitudinal section through the pivotally and slidably mounted end portion of the latch bolt.

Like reference characters refer to like parte in the different gures of the drawings.`

The present invention is disclosed as embodied of latch illustrated inmyraicr looking in the direction inan inner end elevation of the led application and the support hinged door of the refrigerator adjacent its`free vertical edge, said door having anl inner side I and an outer side 2 swith 3 at the inner side into which the casing enters' in its with the latch bolt. The'usual gasket l of rubber or like cushioning material is mounted adjacent the edges of the door'atits inner side to press against the adi acent face portions of the refrigerator'v casing when the door is closed (Fig. i). The door casing 5 at the proper posltionhas a keeper mounted thereon including an l angle mounting bracket C, one leg secured to the casing proper is secured, having an inner strike 1 of a somewhatarcuate shape as shown in Fig. l, from which a' flange I extends outwardly and is bent at right angles to make a shelf l spaced from the strike portions `1 and substantially parallel to the face of the casing l. The shelf l is continued and bent to extend at an angle of substantially 45 outwardly therefrom, providing a cam section Io, and is then bent back for its end to engage against the shelf l.

The latch structure cealed within the of nat metal* having a connecting web II between two -spaced apart sides I2 which, near the outer edge of the door, are continued in spaced arms I3 and extending to the inner sides of the thereto by means of screws or other suitable fastenings through oppositelyextending ears Il at the ends ofsaid 1= arms .Il (Fig. 4,); Opposite the opening 3 at the 'the curved 2 s substantially on the plane of above identiiied.` The latch bolt therefor isconcealed 'within the v an opening or passage keeper mountengagementhich is housed and condoor includesasnpport housing 30 extends through therefrom, the shelves on the two sides I2 lying in the same plane (Fig. 2). At the inner ends oi' the sides I2 integral lingers 20 are turned .toward each other (Fig. 5). Inwardly of said iingers a rod 2| extends between and is secured at its ends to said sides I2 of the support. An arm 22 is Ipivotally mounted at one end on the rod and is normally actuated by a spring 23 around rod 2| engaging with arm 22 and the lingers 29, the action of the spring lbeing to tend to turn the arm in a clockwise direction (Fig. 1).

The latch bolt disposed between the sides |2 of the support is also of sheet metal and of a similar channel-like form, having an inner web 2,4 from which integral spaced sides 25 are bent outwardly parallel to each other. each at its outer end being continued in arms 29 pressed toward each other (Fig. 4) between which is a keeper engaging roller 21. Said sides 25 of the latch bolt near their outer ends are each provided slot 29 and near their inner longitudinal slot 29. A rod the slots 29 and at its ends is securely connected with the sides I2 of the bolt support previously described.

A fiat bar 3| is located lengthwise of rand between the sides 2E of the bolt, at its inner end having a slot 29a (Fig. 3) through which the rod 30 passes. At its outer end, or what may be termed its free end, a rod or shaft 32 passes through the bar and through the slots 28 in the sides 25 of the latch bolt, at each end reaching nearly to the opposite sides I 2 of the bolt support, carrying at each end a roller 33 adapted to ride at the inner sides of the ledges I9 (Fig. 2) and bear against the anges I5 and |1 and pass around the connecting bends I6 between them. The bar 3| at its outer or free end has shoulders against which one end of a coil spring 34 through which the bar passes bears, the other endthereof bearing against the pin 30. The arm 22 actuated by the spring 23 normally bears against the rear end of the web 24 as shown in Fig. 1.

A rod 35 extends between the sides I2 of the support outwardly of the ledges I9, associated with which is a spring 36 having an arm to engage with a bell crank 31. The bell crank is formed from sheet metal and has two spaced apart sides (see Fig. 2) which extend at the outer side of the rod 32. and are provided with shoes 38 at their free ends to bear against the sleeves through which the rod passes, as shown in Fig. 2 The two sides of the bell crank are connected by a cross connecting portion 39 (Fig. 1) the spring 36 engaging thereaganst and normally turning the bell crank in a counterclockwise direction.

At the inner side of the outer member 2 of the door a plate 40 is located. Directly opposite on the outer side of said door part 2 a second plate 4| is located, the two plates being connected by suitable screws as shown. The outer plate 4| is provided with an outwardly pressed sleeve guide 42 for the passage of a cylindrical pin 43, the inner end of which bears against the ledge at 39. The pin is pressed inwardly by a manual operation of handle 44 mounted on a pivot pin 45 which is carried by a supporting bracket having sides ,46 either integral with or connected The handle is normally held by a light spring 41 in the position shown in Fig. 1, in which position it is stopped by the stops shown at 48 extending between the bracket arms 46. The handle has a ledge 49 extending to and bearing against the outer-end of pin 43.

ends with an alined to the plate 4I.

`to the pin 43 turns the Normally, when the door is open, the rollers 31 are .pressed by the spring 34 against the flanges l5, the latch under such condition being cocked ready for tripping upon a striking of the free b0lt against the strike 1 when the door is closed. Under such normal actuation of the latch, the latch bolt turns only about the axis of the pin 30 and has no longitudinal or sliding movement with respect to it. In opening the door, on pulling outwardly on the handle 44. the inner longitudinal movement given `bell crank 31 in a clockwise direction. retracting the bar 3| against the spring 34 and moving the rollers 33. thereby permitting a swinging of the latch bolt 26 about pin 30 in a clockwise direction and a simultaneous opening of the door. The roller 21 in such' swinging movements and accompanying the opening of the door moves to the right (Fig. 1) beyond the ledge 9 against which it has been pressed. It is also evident that in closing the door, tripping the bolty swings it in a counter-clockwise direction about the pin 30 and the rollers 33 follow around the bend, I9 into engagement with the curved ilange sections I1 with a wedging action progressively increasing in force `occurring as the rollers traverse from the point of the bend I6 to their eventual seating against the curved anges I1, so that the pressure force against the gasket ,4 is increased overcoming increased resistance of the gasket against compression as the door more and more approaches its completely closed position. Such operation and action of the latch bolt and the desirable results coming therefrom are fully described in my prior application.

When, as occurs at times, the latch bolt becomes uncooked with the door in open position and therollers have disengaged from the anges I5 and come into engagement with the anges I1, upon closing the door the roller 21 strikes and rides against the inclined cam I0. A component of the force is directed laterally moving the entire latch bolt assembly longitudinally upon the rods 30 and 32 until the roller 21 may pass around the nose of the keeper to within the ledge or shelf 9. In Fig.l 3, a position of the parts is shown immediately before the roller 21 has thus reached the inner side of the ledge 9. The arm 221s swung counte -clockwise by the longitudinal movement of the latch bolt to the position shown in Fig. 3. And as soon as the roller 21 passes within the inner side of said ledge 9, the bolt is spring returned to its normal position and engages with the keeper as in Fig. 1.

The constructiondescribed is practical and operative, having all of the advantages of tight closure of the door without needing to use an The invention is dened in the appended claims and is to be considered comprehensive of all forms the housing toward the inner tble connections for relative longitudinal movenent of one with respect to the other, means :arried by said bar and cooperating means on l.aid housing whereby when the latch bolt is iwung about said pivot it is held in a cocked re- ;racted position in one position thereof, and in another position is swung about said pivot and said bar moved longitudinally relatively to the latch bolt, and a spring actuated member acting upon said latch bolt for normally holding it in extended position but yieldable to permit longitudinal movement of said latch bolt, as and for the purposes specied.

2. In a latch structure, a housing having parallel spaced sides, a latch bolt located between the sides of said housing and a pivot rod carried by the housing, said latch bolt being slotted toward its inner end the rod passing therethrough whereby the latch bolt may be pivotally moved about the pivot or moved longitudinally thereon, the opposite end of keeper engaging element thereon, a spring actuated movable member bearing against the inner end of the latch bolt for normally holding it in a position in which said rod passes through said slot at its inner end, a spring actuated slotted `bar carried by Ksaid latch bolt, said bar being similarly slotted for the passage of said rod therethrough, spring means bearing against said rod and acting on said bar tending to move the bar in the same direction as the latch bolt is moved by the first mentioned spring means, cooperating means carried by said bar and by said housing whereby the spring means actuating the bar is compressed and the latch bolt is held in a cocked position when swung in one direction about the axis oi said rod and is released when the latch bolt is swung away from said cocked position, said latch bolt and bar having means providing relative longitudinal movement of one with respect to the other, and said latch bolt being longitudinally movable against said spring actuated member upon pressure against said keeper engaging element exerted in the direction of the length of the latch bolt.

3. A latch structure comprising, a housing having spaced apart sides connected 4at one edge by a transverse web, the edges of said housing sides being continued beyond the web outwardly thereof -as straight nanges for aV short distance and then curved and extending at an angle away from said web a short distance and then reversely curved and extending in the arc of a circle, a rod located between the sides of ends thereof, a latch bolt having spaced apart sides connected at one side by a transverse web, each side of said latch bolt having two spaced apart alined slots, said rod extending through the innermost of said slots, a keeper engaging element at the tree outer end of the latch bolt, a bar having a longitudinal slot at its inner end through which said rod passes, a second rod passing through said bar at its opposite ire'elend and through the outer slots in the sides of the bolt, rollers mounted on said second rod bearing against the flanges on the sides of said housing, a coiled compression spring located around said bar and bearing at one end against theV nrst mentioned rod, and engaging at its opposi end with said bar, an arm pivotally mounted on and located between the sides of the housing the. latch bolt having a back of the inner end of the latch bolt, and spring means actuating said arm to press against the inner end of the latch bolt.

4. A latch structure as defined in claim 3, combined with manually operable means movable into engagement with said second mentioned rod for moving the bar against the spring means acting thereon longitudinally to retract, and move it from the second mentioned curved portions of said flanges into engagement with the iirst portions thereof and about the axis of the iirst mentioned rod.

5. A pivotally and slidably mounted latch bolt, said latch bolt having a free end, a support on which said latch bolt is pivotally and slidably mounted, yielding means holding the latch bolt against sliding movement in one position in which it may turn about its pivot, cooperating means carried by the latch bolt and said support for releasably holding the latch bolt in a cocked position, said latch bolt in said cocked position being adapted to strike against a fixed member to move the latch bolt from cocked position and to bring the free end of the latch bolt into connection with a keeper, said latch bolt when in uncooked position and disengaged from the keeper being slidably movable in the direction of its length.

6. A latch structure comprising a casing, a latch bolt mounted for both sliding and pivotal movement on said casing and having a s g end, spring means for sliding said latch bolt to extended position, a cam shaped track on said casing, a spring actuated member slidably connected to said latch bolt near its swinging end, a cam follower on said spring actuated member engageable with said cam shaped track, said track being shaped to guide said spring pressed member to swing said latch bolt in latching direction.

'7. The elements of claim 6 in which said track also has la contour to retain said spring thrust member in position to hold'said latch bolt in cocked position.

8. A latch structure comprising a casing, a pivot rod on said casing, a latch bolt having a longitudinal slot in its inner end to receive said rod whereby said latch bolt is both pivotally and slidably mounted, a bar longitudinally slidably connected with said latch bolt near its forward end and having a longitudinal slot near its inner end to receive said pivot rod, a cam track on said casing, a cam follower at the for-l ward end of said bar and a spring acting t0 thrust said cam follower' against said cam track.

9. The elements of claim 8 combined with spring means independent of said iirst spring acting to thrust said latch bolt outwardly and manual means for retracting said bar against action of said rst spring.

` y LLOYD L; ANDERSON. REFERENCES crrnn The following references are of record in the Curtiss, Jr. Nov. 24, 1942 

